Shocked by the accidental classroom shooting that wounded two Gardena High School students, anxious parents demanded answers at a special meeting with school officials Wednesday morning.

Several parents said they would not allow their children to return to campus and asked why school officials didn’t intervene to help the student who was already on probation for battery last year when he brought the gun to school on Tuesday.

“My son is in ninth grade and recently came to this school,” one parent told administrators during the morning meeting at Gardena High. “There’s not enough security here. I understand there’s no funds. Maybe parents can volunteer as security guards.”

Los Angeles Unified School District directors and police told parents that random weapons searches will now be conducted at least once daily at the school.

“The school has conducted the random searches in the past but it has been inconsistent,” said Walter Flores, a district director. “District policy is that random searches should be conducted on a daily basis.”

District and school officials said the aftermath of the incident was managed as well as possible.

But parents were shaken by the episode in which a 17-year-old sophomore brought an automatic gun to school.

Flores said the student told police he did not mean to shoot anyone and brought the weapon only to protect himself from bullies or gang members, according to parents and police officers.

Two students in his health class were badly wounded when the gun discharged, hitting one boy in the neck and fracturing the skull of a girl.

One parent told school officials that her son tried to give aid to the 15-year-old girl shot in the head, and is now struggling with “survivor’s guilt.”

Another parent said she plans to remove her 16-year-old daughter from the school because she just barely escaped being shot. The parent, Shirley Armstrong, said her daughter was sitting in the female victim’s seat just before she came into the class and took her spot.

“The girl who got shot told her it’s her seat,” Armstrong said. The shooting happened just a few minutes later. “I’m taking her out of this school. She’s scared.”

One parent told administrators that her daughter was in the music room where the gunman hid for an hour before he was arrested at 11:45 a.m.

“She kept seeing herself being pulled out of the classroom with a gun to her head,” the parent said.

Parents asked Wednesday why school personnel didn’t intervene before to help the student when he brought a gun to campus.

“This child was on probation – and possibly homeless. What support services do we provide students?” asked parent Debra Reid.

Flores said there are not enough services for struggling students and that the available programs are being reduced because of ongoing budget shortages. But, he said, school officials always intervene when they are made aware of a problem.

“Some students feel they need to bring a weapon to feel safe,” he told parents. “If there’s a bully, there is a procedure in place to follow up. But sometimes there is a fight and we don’t hear about it.”

School personnel scheduled an anti-bullying seminar series beginning later this month to discuss how to identify bullies and their victims.

A team of 15 crisis counselors were on campus Wednesday to help the students struggling to cope with the violence that occurred Tuesday.

Another parent, in tears, said school officials are fostering a dangerous campus.

“I am sick standing here,” she said. “My daughter has a right to be in a safe environment. Where do I get my permit to transfer her?”

The unidentified female victim was recovering Wednesday from brain surgery at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Another victim, a 15-year-old boy shot in the neck, was in good condition and about to be discharged.

A few hundred parents attended the Wednesday morning meeting with school officials, and some complained about the proliferation of gang fights, drug use in restrooms and children bringing weapons to school.

District officials said they have made many security improvements in recent years. They took notes on all comments and said they will review them to find ways to improve security and communication.

“We are analyzing and collecting data and continuing our investigation,” LAUSD District 8 Superintendent Michael Romero said. “I can’t comment on what we will do specifically. Certainly it’s the theme of continuous improvement.”

Preventing violence on the campus would have to be a group effort, officials said.

Tim Anderson, deputy chief of the Los Angeles School Police Department, told parents that there are simply not enough officers to prevent all students who plan violent acts.

Anderson said that there are 362 school police officers who serve the 710-square-mile district. On any given day, as many as 130 of those officers are on duty. On Tuesday, 50 of them responded to Gardena High School, he said.

“We can’t do it all by ourselves,” Anderson said.

Security at the school was amped up on Wednesday, and guards searched each student who walked into the campus. But parents and students complained that it still wasn’t thorough enough.

“They just looked at my backpack and didn’t even wand me,” said student Devvin Mitchell, 18. “They just let me on through. They were supposed to check everybody’s backpack today.”

Parents on Wednesday also accused school administrators of not doing enough to let them know their children were safe as soon as possible after the shooting. The first communication directly from the school to the parents was an automatic phone message at about noon.

“I didn’t get a call,” one parent said. “I try every year to write it in big numbers on the emergency-contact card.”

She said her main number has changed but school staff should have used one of several other contact numbers she has on file.

Administrators asked parents to make sure their contact information is correct because they cannot individually call the families of all 2,300 students.

It took about an hour and a half after the incident occurred to get a message to parents because it was necessary to first confirm the facts of what happened.

“It was just a matter of getting organized and getting everybody on the same page,” Flores said. “But, within the first five minutes, the situation was almost under control. The reaction was immediate and overwhelming.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.